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Download/Stream now Watch Sami's Official YouTube Playlist – Join Sami Yusuf on @Spotify and add your favourite tracks to your personal playlist – Subscribe to Sami's official YouTube channel Follow Sami Yusuf on: DESCRIPTION Sami Yusuf’s composition, ‘Mawlana’, is heard here in a new arrangement specifically written to be performed and recorded live at the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music. Intensely energetic and musically nuanced, there is an organic flow of melodic instrumental solos, exhilarating rhythms and a call and response between Sami Yusuf and the backing vocalists. The lyrics are from a famous Arabic poem by the 12th/13th century Egyptian poet Umar Ibn al-Farid calling for lovers of God to immerse themselves in His all-consuming divine presence. The poem is laden with Sufi metaphors in the tradition of Islamic mystical poetry: wine as a symbol of divine love and knowledge; drunkenness is immersion in the radiance of God; the moon and the stars symbolise the spiritual teacher and his or her students; the tavern is the place of remembering God. It is said that Ibn al-Farid wrote his poetry in a hal, an ecstatic spiritual state. From Sami Yusuf’s ‘Live at the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music’ album. CREDITS Composed, Arranged and Performed by Sami Yusuf Words by Ibn al-Farid Maqām: Bayātī FOH & Recording Engineer: Sachin Savio Monitor Engineer: Diego Biagioni Mixed & Mastered by Vishnu Rajan @ Andante Studios Video Editing & Postproduction by Omar Al-Balushi @ Andante Studios PERFORMERS (From right to left): Seyyed Mohammad Jaberi: daf, bendir & vocals Ömer Avci: bendir, tef, kudum & vocals Onur Cicin: qanun Sezgin Yaman: oud Emre Kayacan: kemanche Hasan Kirkisoglu: ney Mahyar Toreihi: santoor Hüseyin Can Pala: bağlama AND Sami Yusuf Special thanks to Ismail Boujia & his group for joining as guest vocalists (From right to left): Mostafa El Lachkar Ismail Boujia Elouafi Mohammed Hamza Idrissi Mohammed El Alami Abderrazak Idrissi ABOUT THE ALBUM Sami Yusuf’s latest album ‘Live at the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music’ was born of his desire to translate for a global audience the rich musical language of cultures stretching from Andalusia, North Africa, and Arabia to Turkey and beyond. His desire is realised here: the music is refined, and whether meditative or ecstatic, it is all connected by remarkable emotional depth of expression. In its melodic Arabic love songs, its rhythmic chants of North African Sufi lodges, its trance-like Turkish ilahis of the whirling dervishes – this is the visionary work of a composer and performer at the top of his game. Directing an international ensemble of master instrumentalists on traditional acoustic instruments – Bağlama, santur, qanun, kemanche, ney and more – and joined by a renowned Moroccan vocal group, in this 16-track album Sami Yusuf delivers all the magic of the live performance that held his Fes audience spellbound. 2019 was Sami’s second time headlining this prestigious festival, the first time was 2009, joining the ranks of earlier headliners such as Ravi Shankar, Paco de Lucia, Youssou N’Dour, Joan Baez, Björk and Ben Harper. For English translation and more info visit here # Published by Andante Records & Administered by Fairwood Music (UK) Ltd for the World Copyright of Andante Records. All Rights Reserved.
